


You found me.

by youngjusticewriter



Series: Yeah, I wish I’d been a, wish I’d been a teen, teen idle. [4]
Category: Batman (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Dead Robins Club, Found Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-07-17 23:44:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16106246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngjusticewriter/pseuds/youngjusticewriter
Summary: Jason is about to leave to face both his father and his murderer. Steph and Damian can't come since it's his fight but they'll be there to pick up the inevitable pieces.





	You found me.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, Damian named his cat from With Enough Thrust Even Dead Birds Can Fly Again after Nina Tucker.

"Hey Damian how about you go watch Amazing World of Gumball." Steph phrased it like a suggestion but her tone isn't anything but. 

Damian can hear it but he stands in the room, lips thinned; he never bites them like most kids his age do when they're nervous, they become thin instead. It's not shocking, Steph thought as Jason put on his leather jacket, that Damian isn't like most kids his age. The kid had never had a chance for a normal childhood until a year ago and look how that had went. The memory of what had happened - what she had done - still...

She doesn't feel regret for doing it. The terrible truth was that Steph only regrets that Damian had to witness it. 

At a controlled pace (another thing that differentiates him from other kids is the fact Damian doesn't run in apartment) Damian walked closer to Jason. Without a word the boy grabbed Jason's lower belly with both his hands. Hugged, Steph recalled as Jason froze. Damian was hugging Jason for the first time. That and this was the second time he'd ever hugged either one of them by his violation. 

It was over as soon as it began. Damian released a frozen Jason before starting to walk away. Damian paused at the door only to say, "I wish you success in your endeavor." 

A pause and then Damian spoke again, his tone as fatal and cold as black ice, "If father fails do give him the castigation he deserves." 

With those last words he was out of the door, gone to go off to watch the Amazing World of Gumball and to cuddle with the stray cat, Nina, he'd taken in. Both of those things totally ruined the brooding because I'm not allowed to help vibe he was trying to give off. Steph never told Damian that though. If she had he'd stop doing it and honestly Steph would feel guilty of depriving another thing a kid was suppose to have during their childhood. Yes, it'd be his choice, but Steph knew how Damian would react to her saying that so she kept her mouth firmly shut. 

Steph waited until Damian had turn on the tv in his bedroom (the one in the livingroom sound wasn't working) before she spoke.

"I would murder him for you." It's comes out not unbidden but rather a confession. 

Jason, in midst of holstering his gun, paused. He had just frozen for the second time in last few minutes because of simple words that unconventional conveyed the love his siblings felt for him. 

To Steph killing was ending someone's life in self defense or the self defense of others; to murder was to kill someone in cold blood. Stephanie had only killed two people in her life and had wanted to murder her father for all the shit he'd done. Honestly, she didn't blame Jason for wanting to kill the Joker since that clown had beaten and murdered Jason along with his mom. 

But Jason didn't want to kill the Joker - he needed Bruce to kill the Joker. Not because her brother blamed Bruce for not saving him, but because of the graveyards the Joker had filled as he laughed and giggled not because the murderer was insane, but because it was funny. 

"Just remember that," Steph told him with knowing eyes, "when Bruce doesn't do it." 

Jason clenched his jaw in anger. He doesn't say a word as he leaves (Jason can't - not after all these years). It's fine, Steph thinks to herself. They'll be here for him just like Jason had been there for them. 

That was what family was for.


End file.
